Folk Art Cat Ornament

Hi there! It's Jeanne here and welcome to Day 2 of Joli Paquet's Fall Season of Tutorials. Today I'm going to show you how to make this fun and funky Folk Art Cat Ornament. My DH told me it reminds him of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. I think he may be onto something!

To get started you will need to gather a few supplies:

* Felt in 4 colors - black, white, red and orange

* Fabric glue

*Fiberfill

* Black & white baker's twine - string or ribbon will work as well.

* Embroidery floss in 3 colors - black, red and grey

* 2 small black buttons

* 1 small black bead

* Fabric scissors

* Pinking shears (not shown)

* Needle (not shown)

* Ornament pattern shown below

Right click on the pattern sheet above to enlarge and then print out. Use the templates to cut the ornament parts out of felt.
We'll begin with the base of the ornament. For this you will need to cut 2 identical circles from the orange piece of felt using a picking shear scissors. I placed the template on top of the 2 layers of felt and then cut just outside the outer edge of the template creating 2 circles that are slightly larger than the template.

Next you will need to cut the following:

* 2 eyes from the orange felt

* 1 lip from the red felt

* 1 cat head from the black felt

Glue the eyes and mouth to the cat head using fabric glue.

Sew a black button to the center of each eye using red embroidery floss.

Cut the teeth from white felt. Using black embroidery floss, stitch the teeth to the red lips using a back-stitch horizontally across the middle of the white felt. (Stitch all the way through the red and black felt.) Then repeat this same stitch vertically to create the individual teeth. (Don't worry if the spacing isn't exact, as it adds to the folksiness of the ornament.)
Using 6 strands of grey embroidery floss, make a French knot for a nose. Then make 3 long stitches on both sides of the French knot to create the whiskers.
Using 3 strands of black embroidery floss, attach the cat face to one of the orange circles by stitching along the outer edge of the black cat head using a running stitch.
Cut a strand of baker's twine and tie the two ends into a knot. Thread the looped end of the baker's twine though a needle. Attach the twine to the wrong-side of the orange circle by making one stitch behind the cat's head. (Refer to photo above for proper placement.)
Now place the two orange felt circles on top of one another, right sides out, trying as best as you can to match up the pinked edges. (Make sure the baker's twine loop is on the outside of the ornament.) Stitch the two orange circles together along the outer edge using 6 strands of black embroidery floss, leaving a small opening to stuff the ornament. Using fiberfill, lightly stuff the ornament through the opening. Afterwards finish sewing the ornament closed with the black embroidery floss.

To finish off your ornament, slip a black bead over the baker's twine loop and secure with a little clear-drying glue. And that's it!!! Now you have a funky ornament to hang on a Halloween tree or a cabinet knob or use as an embellishment on a gift or trick-or-treat bag!

Happy Halloween!

xoxo

jeanne

A Little Halloween Curiosity

Its that time of year again! There is a chill in the air, pumpkins are placed on the porch, and Joli Paquet is back! I hope you all had a fantastic summer! We sure did, but I am so ready for Fall. It was a REALLY hot summer in Texas. Well, it hasn’t cooled off much yet but, this tutorial is sure to chill your bones! This project may look a little scary and daunting but its easier to make than you think.


Supplies

Arondack alcohol ink (assorted dark colors)
Scrapbook paper ( I used Pink paislee Eclipse)
Design-Ables Self-stick clear Matte paper
Distress ink and blending tool
Bone folder
Drill
Wire
Foil Tape
Halloween Stamps
Stazon ink
Plexiglas- you can buy this at Lowes in a Varity of sizes, they will even cut it for you, or find it here.


1. Plexiglas will come with protected cover. Leave this on for now. Mark glass with permanent marker for where you want hanging holes. Place glass over wood or something similar that is ok to drill into. Using firm-Not hard- pressure slowly begin to drill hole. Repeat.

2. Lay glass over paper in desired spot and trace around. Cut.



3.Ink edges of paper.



4. Peel off protective cover on glass. Cut four strips of foil tape to fit edges of glass. Using bone folder and ruler crease each tape to width you want to show on front.

5. Lay glass on top of paper. Apply tape to edge, then wrap around to back and apply on top of paper. Burnish tape with bone folder. Finish covering back with foil tape if desired.
6. Take several different shades of dark alcohol ink and apply to felt pad and blending tool. Dap foil until you have a mottled, aged look. Let dry.

7. Use Stazon Ink and Halloween stamps. Stamp directly onto front of glass. Let dry.



8. Print desired image onto Design-ables self-stick paper.

9. Peel backing off one corner and apply to glass. Using bone folder or another edge slowly peel and burnish image onto glass.

10.Poke holes into paper .Add wire or ribbon to holes. Gems, buttons, and other embellishments could also be added to sign using Inkssential Glossy accents.

How spooky would this look hanging in a window or in front of a mirror! I hope you give this tutorial a try! Its lots of fun. Help us spread the spookyness and grab our blog button for your blog. ~Brandy

The Fun Starts Tomorrow!

Don't be spooked!

Check back here tomorrow for our first Joli Paquet fall tutorial!

Boo Banner Tutorial

Hi Everyone! I hope you are ready to do some crafting! Today I'm going to teach you how to make an easy Boo Banner for Halloween. I hope you enjoy it!

Supplies Needed:

3 Shipping Tags

Vintage Book Pages or Text Scrapbook Paper

3 White or Cream Buttons

2 Silver Buttons or Round Accents

2 Silver Chenille Stems

White or Ivory Lace

Black Seam Binding or Ribbon

Black Tulle or Decorative Ribbon

Clear Drying Adhesive

Scissors

Sewing Machine with Black Thread (Optional)

Black Pen if you don't want to sew

Letter Stamps or Stencils or Chipboard Letters

Black Paint or Ink

Needle and Black Thread (Optional)

Tip: I encourage you to use items you have on hand. Your banner does not have to look exactly like mine. Go through your scrapbooking supplies, your sewing supplies, even your junk drawers and make use of what you have!

Let's Get Started!

Step 1: Glue your 3 tags onto your book page paper. If you are going to sew around the edges then just put adhesive in the center of the tag. You don't want to gum up your sewing machine with glue. If you are going to draw your stitches on the tag, then go ahead and glue all the way around your tag so it is adhered well.

Step 2: Cut around out the tags using the edge of your tag as a guide.

Step 3: Sew a decorative stitch around all edges of all 3 tags. I used the zig zag stitch. If you don't have a sewing machine you could hand stitch around the tags.

Step 3: (Optional Non Sew) If you don't want to sew at all then you can use a black pen to draw stitch marks around your tags.

Step 4: Stamp your letters on all 3 tags. I used foam stamps with black paint. However, you can use any stamp with paint or ink. You could also use stencils or chipboard letters. Let your letters dry before the next step.

Step 5: Cut 2 lengths of lace and 1 length of chenille stem for each tag. The length should be a little longer than your tag. You can trim it up later.

Step 6: Sew the first piece of lace to the bottom of your tags. If you do not want to sew then just glue your lace down with clear drying glue.

Step 7: Sew the second piece of lace above the first piece and overlap onto the first piece just a bit. Again you can glue this if you don't want to sew.

Step 8: Trim the excess lace from each side of the tags. Tip: turn your tag over and use the edge of the tag as a trim guide.

Step 9: Glue the chenille stem piece at the top of the second piece of lace. Let dry. Tip: I like to "clamp" my pieces with binder clips or clothes pins until dry.

Step 10: Glue or sew on the cream colored button to the bottom of each tag. Let dry if you are gluing.

Step 11: Trim the excess chenille stem off using the back of your tag as a trim guide. Tip: Use a pair of wire cutters or junk scissors to trim chenille stems. The wire inside the chenille stems can make nicks on the blade of your good scissors.

Step 12: Turn the tags over and punch holes on each side of the original tag hole. These holes will be what you thread your hanging ribbon through. If you don't have a hole punch you could use an exacto knife or just carefully punch holes with your scissors.

Step 13: Thread the desired length of seam binding or ribbon through your tags and space tags out evenly, about an inch apart.

Step 14: Tie a loop in each end of the seam binding for hanging.

Step 15: Sew or glue a decorative button or embellishment onto the knot on each loop.

Step 16: Tie a piece of tulle or ribbon under each loop.

Step 17: Hang up your cute little Boo Banner for all to enjoy.

Tip: This process can be used for any holiday banner. Spell out anything you wish! Use any color you wish! You could make cute name banners for your child's bedroom. Banners for birthdays would be great and can be used over and over again. Or banners with your favorite inspirational word would look great hanging in your home! It's a great quick craft project that uses up extra supplies and scraps that you may not have otherwise used.

I hope you have enjoyed this easy tutorial! I encourage you to think out of the box and create some wonderful banners! Please be sure and show us your Boo Banners or variations of the Boo Banner tutorial in the Joli Flickr Group! Also please be sure and mention the tutorial came from Joli Paquet.

Happy Banner Making!

Cindy

It's Give Away Time!

EDITED 10/19/09 - Comments are now closed for entries. I will announce a winner later today!

We hope you are enjoying Joli Paquet and it's inspiring you for the fall and Halloween season! Here's a little give away to help get you in the Halloween spirit! Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday, Oct. 18th listing your favorite Halloween candy! One winner will win the set of handmade magnets that comes in a round window tin. I will announce a winner on Monday, Oct. 19th!

I will also be back tomorrow (Friday) with an easy tutorial that you will be able to make in a snap! So be sure and come back tomorrow for the tutorial!

Also we just want to remind you to post your tutorial and kit creations to the Joli Flickr group. You can find it on the left in the side bar!

See you tomorrow!

Cindy

The Bewitching Hour

Hi there - It's Jeanne here! I hope you all have been enjoying the tutorials we've been showing here on Joli Paquet. And what about those kits? WOW!  Well, today is my turn to show you how to create the fun little witch shown above. So let's get started. . . .
1.  The first thing you need to do is to click on the witch photo above to enlarge. Then right click to download the image and print it out on regular paper.
2.  Next you will need to cut the witch out. Refer to the photo above - do you see how I included part of the chair back that she is holding? This will be the handle to her broom so make sure you don't cut it off.

~ Click on photo to enlarge ~

3.  Now you will need to get yourself a tart pan (about 2.5" in diameter), a roll of crafting metal (I used Creative Metal by Walnut Hollow available at JoAnn Fabrics), a rusting kit (by Sophisticated Finishes available at Michaels) and a paint brush.

4.  Referring to the photo above, cut a piece of the metal slightly larger than the witch cut-out. NOTE: Cut the metal long enough so that there is about 1-inch extra at the bottom of the witch.

5.  Following the manufacturer's directions on the rusting kit, paint both the sheet of metal and the outside of the tart pan with a coat of the iron metallic surfacer (see photo 4 above). Let dry thoroughly. Then coat both the metal and tart pan with the rust antiquing surfacer (see photo 5 above). When dry and metal has rusted it's time to move on to the next step!

 

6.  Using a glue stick or your favorite adhesive, adhere the witch image to the back (non-rusted side) of the metal sheet. Position the witch so that there is at least 1-inch of metal below the witch.
7.  Using a dark brown ink pad, ink the edges of the witch as show in the photo above.
8.  Time to make the broom! Wrap raffia around a ruler about 10 times. Carefully slip the raffia off the ruler and tightly tie the top using black embroidery floss. Trim the raffia at the bottom to finish off the broom. Set aside.
9.  Select a gear from Tim Holtz Sprocket Gear set (available at Michaels). Glue a watch face on top of the gear. (I have a very limited amount of watch faces available in my Etsy Shop that can be used in this project.)
10.  Bend the excess metal at the bottom of witch back at a 90 degree angle so that witch will stand up. Hot glue witch to the tart pan turned upside down. 

11.  Glue watch face/sprocket to the bottom of witch's dress. Glue broom head to the bottom of the broom handle.
12.  Click on the text strip above to enlarge. Then right click to download the image and print it out on regular paper. Cut out text.
13.  Cut a strip of contrasting card stock slightly larger than the text strip. (Mine is 3.75" x .5") Trim ends in a "V" fashion to create a banner. (I used a Martha Stewart pre-made banner in gold available at WalMart)
14.  Attach text strip to banner using a glue stick.
15.  Finally, attach the banner to the witch using double stick foam tape.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and don't forget to check back here as the fun continues for two more weeks!

xo

Jeanne